Insurance Industry Execs ‘Alarmed’ by Surge in Deaths Among Young People — But Stop Short of Blaming COVID Shots

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According to InsuranceNewsNet, insurers are especially concerned by data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that show “mortality rates alarmingly rising for different categories,” including younger adult mortality rates that are up more than 20% above historic norms in 2023. By Mike Capuzzo, The Defender’s Top News of the Day.  Executives at the largest […]

A molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in global SARS-CoV-2 genomes

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Theo Sanderson, Ryan Hisner, I’ah Donovan-Banfield, Hassan Hartman, Alessandra Løchen, Thomas P. Peacock & Christopher Ruis Nature (2023) Cite this article Abstract Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication widely used against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), acts by inducing mutations in the virus genome during replication. Most random mutations are likely to be deleterious to the virus and many will be lethal; thus, molnupiravir-induced […]

Effect of Higher-Dose Ivermectin for 6 Days vs Placebo on Time to Sustained Recovery in Outpatients With COVID-19A Randomized Clinical Trial

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Susanna Naggie, MD, MHS1,2; David R. Boulware, MD, MPH3; Christopher J. Lindsell, PhD4; et alThomas G. Stewart, PhD5; Alex J. Slandzicki, MD6; Stephen, C. Lim,  MD Jonathan Cohen, MD8;  David Kavtaradze, MD9,  Arch Amon, MD10, et. al for the Accelerating Covid-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV)-6 Study Group and Investigators. JAMA. 2023;329(11):888-897. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.1650 Question  Does ivermectin, with a maximum targeted dose of 600 μg/kg daily for 6 days, compared with placebo, shorten symptom duration among adult (≥30 years) outpatients with symptomatic […]

Acute blood biomarker profiles predict cognitive deficits 6 and 12 months after COVID-19 hospitalization

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Maxime Taquet, Zuzanna Skorniewska, Adam Hampshire, James D. Chalmers, Ling-Pei Ho, Alex Horsley, Michael Marks, Krisnah Poinasamy, Betty Raman, Olivia C. Leavy, Matthew Richardson, Omer Elneima, Hamish J. C. McAuley, Aarti Shikotra, Amisha Singapuri, Marco Sereno, Ruth M. Saunders, Victoria C. Harris, Linzy Houchen-Wolloff, Neil J. Greening, Parisa Mansoori, Ewen M. Harrison, Annemarie B. Docherty, Nazir I. Lone, PHOSP-COVID Study Collaborative Group,  Nature Medicine (August 2023)  Abstract Post-COVID cognitive deficits, including ‘brain fog’, are clinically complex, with both objective and […]

Mast cell activation in lungs during SARS-CoV-2 infection associated with lung pathology and severe COVID-19

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Janessa Y.J. Tan,1 Danielle E. Anderson,2,3 Abhay P.S. Rathore,4 Aled O’Neill,1 Chinmay Kumar Mantri,1 Wilfried A.A. Saron,1 Cheryl Q.E. Lee,5 Chu Wern Cui,5 Adrian E.Z. Kang,1 Randy Foo,1 Shirin Kalimuddin,1,6 Jenny G. Low,1,6 Lena Ho,5 Paul Tambyah,7,8 Thomas W. Burke,9 Christopher W. Woods,9,10 Kuan Rong Chan,1 Jörn Karhausen,4,11 and Ashley L. St. John1,4,12,13 Published August 10, 2023 – 10.1172/JCI149834 Journal of Clinical Investigation Lung inflammation is a hallmark of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients […]

Simvastatin in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19

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November 2, 2023, NEJM Abstract BACKGROUND The efficacy of simvastatin in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear. METHODS In an ongoing international, multifactorial, adaptive platform, randomized, controlled trial, we evaluated simvastatin (80 mg daily) as compared with no statin (control) in critically ill patients with Covid-19 who were not receiving statins […]

Site of vulnerability on SARS-CoV-2 spike induces broadly protective antibody against antigenically distinct Omicron subvariants

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Siriruk Changrob,1 Peter J. Halfmann,2 Hejun Liu,3 Jonathan L. Torres,3 Joshua J.C. McGrath,1 Gabriel Ozorowski,3 Lei Li,1 G. Dewey Wilbanks,1 Makoto Kuroda,2 Tadashi Maemura,2 Min Huang,1 Nai-Ying Zheng,1 Hannah L. Turner,3 Steven A. Erickson,4 Yanbin Fu,1 Atsuhiro Yasuhara,1 Gagandeep Singh,5,6 Brian Monahan,6,7 Jacob Mauldin,6,7 Komal Srivastava,6,7 Viviana Simon,5,6,7,8,9 Florian Krammer,5,6,7 D. Noah Sather,10,11,12 Andrew B. Ward,3 Ian A. Wilson,3,13 Yoshihiro Kawaoka,2,14,15,16 and Patrick C. Wilson1,Published 2023 – 10.1172/JCI166844 Abstract The rapid evolution of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variants […]

Beyond epithelial damage: vascular and endothelial contributions to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

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James May, Jane A. Mitchell, and R. Gisli Jenkins, Published September 15, 2023 – 10.1172/JCI172058 Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive scarring disease of the lung with poor survival. The incidence and mortality of IPF are rising, but treatment remains limited. Currently, two drugs can slow the scarring process but often at the expense of intolerable side […]

Does the SARS-CoV-2 spike really have an Achilles heel?

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Shiv Pillai, Published , 2023 – More infoView PDF , 10.1172/JCI168080 Abstract The continued emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and waning vaccine immunity are some of the factors that drive the continuing search for more effective treatment and prevention options for COVID-19. In this issue of the JCI, Changrob, et al. describe an anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody, isolated from a […]

The intersection of COVID-19 and autoimmunity

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Jason S. Knight,1 Roberto Caricchio,2 Jean-Laurent Casanova,3,4,5,6 Alexis J. Combes,7 Betty Diamond,8 Sharon E. Fox,9,10 David A. Hanauer,11 Judith A. James,12 Yogendra Kanthi,13 Virginia Ladd,14 Puja Mehta,15 Aaron M. Ring,16 Ignacio Sanz,17 Carlo Selmi,18,19 Russell P. Tracy,20 Paul J. Utz,21 Catriona A. Wagner,14 Julia Y. Wang,22 and William J. McCune1,Published October 28, 2021 – Free access | 10.1172/JCI154886 Acute COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is characterized by diverse clinical presentations, ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal respiratory […]